Witness: Alleged murder victim feared for life

WOODSTOCK – A prosecution witness testified this morning that Michelle Mathieu locked herself in a bedroom for three days and feared that Robert Signorile would kill her.

Signorile, 44, is on trial this week, accused in the beating death of Mathieu. The two had dated for more than five years before her death in March 2012.

Her friend, Jeffrey Nickerson testified that in August 2011, Mathieu had called him and said she was locked in her bedroom. The two talked for two hours as Nickerson pleaded with her to call police.

Nickerson said he never called police because he didn't know where Mathieu lived.

"You were on the phone with her for two hours and you never asked where she lived?" Signorile's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Angelo Mourelatos asked.

Police eventually did respond to a domestic dispute at the couple's Sun City Huntley home. Signorile was charged on Aug. 21, 2011, with domestic battery. He later pleaded guilty and received supervision and ordered to undergo anger counseling.

Mathieu died March 24, 2012, after spending six days in intensive care at Sherman Hospital in Elgin.

Police were called to the couple's home and found Mathieu naked but covered in a robe, face down in vomit. She was covered in bruises at various stages of healing, previous testimony revealed.

Signorile told investigators that Mathieu often drank alcohol and fell.

The trial will resume at 1:30 p.m. today.

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